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Beaver Lake dam as it appeared before it was removed late last year. (ADAM SWIFT FILE PHOTO)

Work to remove Beaver Lake dam completed

By ADAM SWIFTUnion Leader Correspondent

DERRY - Removal of the Beaver Lake dam has been completed, and the state has signed off on the work.

At a recent Conservation Commission meeting, chairman Margaret Ives read a letter from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services stating the work was finished in early December.

"The project to remove the Beaver Lake dam is complete, and the filling of the overflow culvert is complete," said Ives.

The area will be monitored over the winter to determine whether further stabilization and seeding is needed in the area of the former culvert, Ives said.

The Beaver Lake dam was owned by the town, and its removal will have little to no effect on the water levels at Beaver Lake, town Environmental Coordinator Craig Durrette said when the project first came forward. According to Ives, a dam further down in the meadow controls the water level at Beaver Lake.

A study of the Beaver Lake area verified that the removal of the dam will not affect the water flow.

The town originally sought the removal of the dam in 2011, but the project was delayed for close to a year because of the high water level at the lake.

The removal of the dam restores the stream bed to its pre-dam condition and could help improve migration patterns for fish and other aquatic animals, according to Durrette. Over the past decade, he said the trend has been to remove dams that do not serve a discernible purpose and return waterways to a more natural state.

In other Conservation Commission correspondence, the DES also approved the design for the replacement of a culvert on Rockingham Road with a 20-foot-wide, rigid, three-sided frame culvert.

The approval helps clear the way for road construction associated with the public water and sewer expansion down Rockingham Road with a bridge and culvert replacement over a stream near Bradford Street.

The corrugated metal pipes under the existing stone culvert are heavily rusted, according to Hoyle Tanner engineer Josif Bicja.

There will also be 200-feet of approach work on the road leading to the new bridge.